Restraint belt buckle cover

ABSTRACT

1. IN A RESTRAINT BELT BUCKLE FRAME WITH LATCHING MECHANISM INCLUDING DEPRESSIBLE RELEASE MEANS, A SEMI-RIGID CASING HAVING AN OPENING OVER THE RELEASE MEANS CONTINUOUSLY COVERED BY A FLEXIBLE COVERING HAVING A FOLDED PORTION AND A CENTRAL CONCAVE PORTION WHICH WHEN PRESSED STRAIGHTENS THE FOLDED PORTION, AND DEPRESSES THE RELEASE MEANS. AN ALTERNATIVE EMBODIMENT INSERTS THE FLEXIBLE COVERING BETWEEN MATING INNER AND OUTER CASING MEMBER.

United States Patent O 3,566,455 RESTRAINT BELT BUCKLE COVER Gregory G. Kuszynski, Pasadena, Calif., assignor to American Safety Equipment Corporation, Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Filed Sept. 22, 1969, Ser. No. 859,931 Int. Cl. A44b 11/26 US. Cl. 24-230 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In a restraint belt buckle frame with latching mechanism including depressible release means, a semi-rigid casing having an opening over the release means continuously covered by a flexible covering having a folded portion and a central concave portion which when pressed straightens the folded portion, and depresses the release means. An alternative embodiment inserts the flexible covering between mating inner and outer casing members.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to restraint belt buckle covers and more particularly to a pushbutton type buckle cover having a continuously covered opening.

Conventionally, a restraint belt buckle includes a load bearing buckle frame containing latching mechanism which latchingly receives a tongue plate or other mating part. The latching mechanism usually includes a latch plate movable from a latched position to an unlatched position by various means, of which the most widely used is a pushbutton. The buckle frame is covered by a plastic or metal cover plate or casing which contains an opening providing access to the pushbutton for manual operation. The pushbutton and the opening in the cover plate or casing never mate perfectly and so there is always a gap therebetween. This gap permits foreign objects to get into the buckle mechanism and possibly prevent it from working properly, permits the operative finger or fingernail to be caught between the pushbutton and the edge of the opening, and permits foreign objects to lodge between the pushbutton and the edge of the opening where they are diflicult and inconvenient to remove.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a novel way of eliminating the gap between the pushbutton and the cover plate or casing surrounding the pushbutton.

It is also an object to provide a buckle cover of the above-described type wherein the flexible covering prevents entry of foreign objects inside the buckle which would prevent proper operation thereof, prevents the operators finger from being pinched between the pushbut ton and edge of the cover opening and prevents an object from becoming lodged between the pushbutton in the depressed position and the edge of the cover opening which may be diflicult to remove and thus cause inconvenience to the operator. It is a further object to close the buckle cover opening with a flexible covering without increasing the force required to operate the pushbutton.

Other and additional objects of this invention are to provide a buckle cover having an opening therein continuously closed by a flexible covering; to provide such a covering which may be depressed to operate the release means thereunder; to provide such a covering including a folded portion and a central portion which when depressed straightens the folded portion to protrude into the opening in the casing; to provide such a flexible cover which is elastic, thereby returning to its original shape upon release thereof; to provide such a flexible cover which when biased to the original position will return to the original shape thereof; to provide such a flexible covering secured between inner and outer members; and to provide such a flexible covering which is durable and has a long life.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A restraint belt buckle cover carried by a buckle frame with latching mechanism including a depressible release means, the cover having a semi-rigid casing with an opening over the release means continuously covered by a flexible covering secured to the casing and depressible to depress the release means. An alternative embodiment secures the flexible covering between inner and outer mating semi-rigid casing members.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a safety belt buckle assembly with a buckle cover according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the buckle assembly of FIG. 1 with the latching mechanism thereof in the latched position;

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the buckle assembly similar to FIG. 2 with the latching mechanism therein in the unlatched position; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical cross section of a part of the buckle assembly showing a second embodiment of the buckle cover.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIG. 1, a portion of the restraint system is shown including a strip of belt webbing 10 with one end thereof anchored to a vehicle (not shown) and the free or other end secured to a conventional apertured tongue plate 11. A strip of belt webbing 12 with one end thereof anchored to the vehicle has the free or other end thereof secured to a buckle assembly 13 carrying latching mechanism 14 covered by a buckle cover 15 according to this invention.

The buckle assembly 13 is of the pushbutton type and, as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, includes a load bearing buckle frame with a bottom wall 21 and a pair of laterally spaced upstanding sidewalls 22 containing inclined slots 23 into which a load bar 24 is inserted. The strip of belt webbing 12 passes through an opening 25 in the bottom wall 21 around the load bar 24 and back out the opening 25 to be conventionally sewn to itself to secure the frame 20 to the belt webbing 12. The material struck from the opening 25 in the bottom wall 21 forms an upstanding wall 26.

The upstanding sidewalls 22 adjacent the right end or front thereof and adjacent the bottom wall 21 have notches 27. An inclined ramp 28 is inserted between the walls 22 with the lower or right end thereof meeting the bottom wall 21 at the forward notches 27, and the left end of the ramp 28 sitting on the horizontal plate portion of a latch spring 29 on the bottom wall 21. The ramp is suitably secured to the frame.

The latching mechanism also includes a latch plate 30 pivotally mounted between the upstanding sidewalls 22 with lateral protrusion 31 thereon extending into centrally located triangularly shaped slots 32 in the upstanding sidewalls 22. The latch plate 30 has a latch face 33 adjacent the right end thereof which extends leftwardly and downwardly from the lower surface thereof. Release means in the form of a lever end 3-4 is on the left end of the latching plate 30.

The latch plate 30 pivots on the protrusions 31 in the triangularly shaped slots 32 to move from a latch position shown in FIG. 2 wherein the latch face 33 is directly adjacent the upper surface of the ramp 28 and the lever end 34 is raised, to an unlatched position shown in FIG. 3 where the latch face 33 is raised above the ramp 28 and spaced therefrom and the lever end 34 is lowered. The upstanding wall 26 limits the movement of the latch plate 30 in the unlatched position and an upstanding arm 35 of the ramp 28 limits the movement of the latch plate 30 in the latched position as well as acting as a stop for the tongue plate 11. The spring arms 36 of the latch spring 29 biases the latch plate 30 to the latched position.

The preferred embodiment of the buckle cover is shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and includes a casing 40 for enclosing the frame '20. Casing 40 is made of a rigid or semi-rigid material, such as metal or plastic, which will complete a housing for the latch mechanism. The casing 40 has an interior shape corresponding to the shape of the frame and contains reinforcing ribs 41 and attaching lateral beads 42 which extend into openings 43 in the ends of both of the upstanding sidewalls 22 of the frame 20 to secure the casing 40 to the frame 20. The casing 40 has a generally rectangular release means opening 44 therethrough over the lever end 34 of the latch plate 30.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a covering 45 for use with the above described well known safety belt buckle parts. The covering 45 envelopes the casing 40, completely covering the opening 44. The covering 45 has a marginal folded portion 46 adjacent the edges of the release means opening 44 and a concave portion 47 centrally of the opening 44 and the folded portion 46. The covering 45 is made of an elastic or resilient material such as vinyl.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, when the buckle cover 15 including casing '40 and the covering 45 are pressed over the frame 20, the bottom surface of the central concave portion 47 of the covering 45 engages the lever end 34 of the latching bar r30 in the latched position thereof.

When the central portion 47 of the covering 45 is pressed, such as by a finger as is shown in phantom in FIG. 3, the portion 47 moves downwardly depressing the lever end 34 to move the latch plate 30 from the latched position shown in FIG. 2 to the unlatched position shown in FIG. 3. As the central portion 47 is depressed, the folded portion 46 deforms, as shown in FIG. 3, permitting the movement of the covering 45.

When the pressure is removed from the central portion 47, the resilience of the folded portion 46' will move the concave portion 47 from the position shown in FIG. 3 back to the original position shown in FIG. 2 permitting the lever end 34 to rise and permitting the latch plate 30 to move from the unlatched position to the latched position. If the resilience of the folded portion 46 is not sufficient to return the central concave portion 47 to the original position, the biasing of the spring arms 36 of the spring 29 on the latch plate 30 will raise the lever end 34 and return the central portion 47 to the original position shown in FIG. 2.

An alternative preferred embodiment of the buckle ,cover 15 is shown in FIG. 4. In this embodiment, the latching mechanism 1 4 is generally the same but a button portion 37 is secured to the lever end 34 by bent cars 38.

The buckle cover 15 includes an inner casing member 50, a mating outer casing member 55 thereover with a covering 60 therebetween.

The inner casing member 50 is substantially similar to the casing 35 and has reinforcing ribs 51 and an internal bead (not shown) for securing the inner casing 50 to the frame 20. The inner casing member 50 also contains a release means opening 52 over the lever end 34.

The outer casing member 55 receives the inner casing member 50 therein to be secured thereto. The outer casing member 55 has a release means opening 56 therethrough corresponding to the opening 52 in the inner casing member and over the lever end 34. Around the opening 56 on the lower or inside of the outer casing member 55 is a peripheral channel or indentation 57 for receiving the covering 60. The indentation 57 includes a 4 peripheral narrow portion 58 and an enlarged portion 59.

The covering 60 is generally flat and larger than the openings '56 and 52. The covering 60 includes a folded portion 61 and a central concave portion 62 corresponding to the folded portion 41 and the central concave portion 42 of the first embodiment. The covering 60 has outwardly of the folded portion 61 a flat portion 64 which terminates in a peripheral bead 65. The bead 65 is received in the enlarged portion 59 of the outer casing member 55 to secure the covering 60 between the outer casing member 55 and the inner casing member 50 with the folded portion 6 1 and the central concave portion 62 within the openings 56 and 52 ad continuously closing these openings.

When the inner and outer casings 50 and 55 are assembled with covering 60 and attached to the frame 20, the covering 60 operates exactly as the covering except that the underside of the central concave portion 52 now presses against the button 37 on the lever end 34 of the latch plate 30.

The casing 40, the inner casing member 50 and the outer casing member 55 could be molded of any suitable semi-rigid material, such as plastic. The flexible covering could be molded separately from the casing 40 or molded to the casing 40 with the folded portion 41 and the central portion 42 formed simultaneously. The covering 60 could also be molded apart from the outer casing 55 or with the outer casing 55 and with the central portion 62 and the folded portion 61 being formed simuL taneously therewith. If the covering 60 were molded separately from the casing members 55 and 50, the covering 60 would be inserted into the outer casing member 55 and the inner casing inserted into the outer casing member to complete the assembly.

Thus, a safety belt buckle assembly with a buckle cover according to this invention continuously closes the opening in the casing with a covering while permitting manual pressure on the covering to operate a latching mechanism release means.

I claim:

1. In a safety belt buckle comprising a frame and latching mechanism including movable release means, for selectively engaging a mating part, a cover comprising:

a casing mounted to said buckle frame over said latching mechanism, said casing having an opening therethrough over the release means; and

a flexible covering secured to said casing and extending over said opening to continuously close the opening, said cover having a folded portion and a center portion over the release means, manual pressure on the center portion straightening the folded portion permitting the center portion to move the release means to release the mating part.

2. The buckle cover of claim 1 wherein the flexible covering envelopes the outside of the casing.

3. The buckle cover of claim 1 wherein the casing includes inner and outer casing members secured together and said flexible covering is secured between the casing members and over the opening.

4. A buckle cover for use with a safety belt buckle frame with latching mechanism to selectively engage a mating part, including depressible release means, the cover comprising:

a casing supported by the frame over the release means, said casing having an opening therethrough over the release means; and

a flexible covering secured to said casing and continuously covering the opening, manual pressure on the flexible covering over the release means depressing the covering and the release means to release the mating part.

5. A cover for use with a safety belt pushbutton type buckle including a frame, latching mechanism to selectively engage a mating part, said mechanism having a depressible pushbutton, the cover comprising:

a semi-rigid plastic casing carried by said buckle frame and overlying said latching mechanism, said casing having an opening therethrough above the pushbuton; and

a flexible covering secured to said casing and completely overlying the pushbutton, said covering having a marginal folded portion, and a central portion engaging the pushbutton, manual pressure on the central portion straightening the folded portion a1- lowing central portion to be depressed and the pushbutton engaged so as to release the mating part.

6. The buckle cover as in claim 5 wherein the covering is elastic whereby upon release of the manual pressure on the central portion, the folded portion assumes the original shape.

7. The buckle cover as in claim 5 wherein the depressible pushbutton is biased upwardly and upon release of the manual pressure from the central portion, the biasing returns the pushbutton and the central portion to the original position wth the folded portion and the central portion assuming their original shape.

8. In a safety belt buckle assembly including a buckle 6 frame, latching mechanism including movable release means, and a casing secured to the frame over said latching mechanism and having an opening therethrough over the release means, the improvement comprising:

a flexible covering secured to the casing and over the opening to continuously close the opening, said covering having a folded portion and a central portion directly over the release means, manual pressure on the central portion straightening the folded portion permitting the central portion to move the release means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,738,561 3/1956 Trilling 24230A 3,425,103 2/1969 Melin 24/230A FOREIGN PATENTS 465,423 12/1968 Switzerland 24230A BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner 

